Delray Officer Faces Dismissal

October 12, 1995|By C. RON ALLEN Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH - — A police officer who has missed three court dates despite subpoenas, and has amassed more than a dozen suspensions, has been stripped of his gun and badge and faces possible dismissal, police said on Wednesday.

City Manager David Harden is expected to announce whether Officer Michael Unterreiner will be fired or given another chance with the department.

All but one of Unterreiner's bosses say he is incompetent. They say his performance is mediocre to substandard, and they call his internal affairs record dismal.

"I don't understand when somebody has been put on notice by the boss and they continue to make those kinds of decisions," Chief Richard Overman told Unterreiner during an interview that led to his most recent suspension. "It just tortures common sense to me."

Unterreiner, a five-year employee, did not return calls left at his home on Wednesday. But he told Overman that his supervisors' assessments of him being unproductive were untrue.

"That's because I'm out shaking the bushes all night long, not writing tickets," he said. "I've got 21 commendations. I couldn't sit on my haunches and get that many awards."

Unterreiner has been investigated 44 times for sleeping on duty, lying to supervisors, tardiness, poor job performance and poor judgment, records show. Fourteen charges were substantiated. He has been suspended without pay and reprimanded 19 times.

In one case, Unterreiner was counseled for using poor judgment when he pursued drag racers, who were traveling faster than 100 mph, through a construction area.

But one of his supervisors, Sgt. Tina Heysler, was not ready to write him off.

Heysler said Unterreiner has been meeting the realistic goals that were set for him.

"To dismiss an officer with the potential Officer Unterreiner has to offer would prove to be detrimental," Heysler wrote in a memo.

Unterreiner would be the second officer to leave the department in the past two months. Officer Dalton Brown, a seven-year department employee, resigned last month while officials investigated him for lying.

Harden must review the case against Unterreiner and can accept or reject the chief's dismissal recommendation.